One in four people worldwide - over 1.5 billion people - suffer from brain disorders, including depression, infection, trauma, stroke, seizures, dementia, and tumors. Despite this huge demand for treatments, delivery of drugs into the brain to treat these disorders is greatly impaired by the blood-brain barrier. The blood-brain barrier is the interface between blood and brain that controls what goes in and comes out of the brain. Anatomically, the blood-brain barrier is made of endothelial cells forming a complex vascular network that supplies the brain with oxygen and nutrients, and disposes of carbon dioxide and wastes. Recent studies show that the blood-brain barrier is affected by brain disorders and itself plays a role in causing brain disease. Therefore, understanding blood-brain barrier function is critical for devising new therapeutic strategies to enhance brain drug delivery, improve brain protection, and treat brain disorders. Currently, we study the role of the blood-brain barrier in three disorders: epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, and brain cancer.

Research focus on blood-brain barrier function in brain disorders (epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, brain tumors) Graduate Teaching: Pharmacokinetics, Ethics in Research Teaching Professional Pharmacy Students: PHS931: Neuropharmacology, PHS947/PHR921: Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics

Parikh I, Guo J, Chuang K H, Zhong Y, Rempe R G, Hoffman J D, Armstrong R, Bauer Bjoern, Hartz Anika Maria Sophie, Lin Ai-Ling. (2016). Caloric restriction preserves memory and reduces anxiety of aging mice with early enhancement of neurovascular functions. Aging, Ronaldson P T, Bauer Bjoern, El-Kattan A F, Shen H, Salphati L, Louie S W. (2016). Highlights From the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists/ International Transporter Consortium Joint Workshop on Drug Transporters in Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, and Excretion: From the Bench to the Bedside - Clinical Pharmacology Considerations. Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics, 100(5), 419-422. Rempe R G, Hartz Anika Maria Sophie, Bauer Bjoern. (2016). Matrix metalloproteinases in the brain and blood-brain barrier: Versatile breakers and makers. Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, 36(9), 1481-507. Wolf A, Bauer Bjoern, Abner Erin, Ashkenazy-Frolinger T, Hartz Anika Maria Sophie. (2016). A Comprehensive Behavioral Test Battery to Assess Learning and Memory in 129S6/Tg2576 Mice. PloS one, 11(1), e0147733. Akkaya B G, Zolnerciks J K, Ritchie T K, Bauer Bjoern, Hartz Anika Maria Sophie, Sullivan J A, Linton K J. (2015). The multidrug resistance pump ABCB1 is a substrate for the ubiquitin ligase NEDD4-1. Molecular membrane biology, 1-7. Akkaya B G, Zolnerciks J K, Ritchie T K, Bauer Bjoern, Hartz Anika Maria Sophie, Sullivan J A, Linton K J. (2015). The multidrug resistance pump ABCB1 is a substrate for the ubiquitin ligase NEDD4-1. Molecular membrane biology, 32(2), 39-45. Hartz A M, Bauer Bjoern, Soldner E L, Wolf A, Boy S, Backhaus R, Mihaljevic I, Bogdahn U, Klünemann H H, Schuierer G, Schlachetzki F. (2012). Amyloid-β contributes to blood-brain barrier leakage in transgenic human amyloid precursor protein mice and in humans with cerebral amyloid angiopathy. Stroke; a journal of cerebral circulation, 43(2), 514-23.